The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team will try for its third win in a row in the Orange Empire Conference Wednesday night at home.
The Lasers, ranked No. 3 in the state, host No. 9 Santiago Canyon with second place in the conference standings on the line.
IVC defeated Golden West and Fullerton on the road last week to improve its record to 11-2 overalland 2-1 in the OEC.
In its 25-17, 25-18, 25-14 win at Fullerton last Friday, the squad hit .444 as a team was led by sophomore opposite Demetre Gossett, who finished with 10 kills, four aces, six digs and hit .600.
Freshman setter Kaina Alvarez ran the offense with 26 assists and added five digs. Freshman outside hitter Damon Kooiman had seven kills and hit .455, freshman middle blocker Chris Rivera chipped in five kills and hit .667 and sophomore libero Adam Schulte added six digs for the Lasers.
So far this season, Gossett is averaging 3.80 kills per set and hitting .358 to pace the squad. Kooiman averages 2.44 kills and freshman outside hitter Zach McEntire averages 1.93 kills per set. Sophomore middle blocker Julio Gutierrez is averaging 1.35 kills and hitting a team-best .442.
Alvarez is averaging 7.61 assists and Schulte averages 3.63 digs per set. Gossett ranks fourth in the state in kills per set, is third in total kills (171) and second in hitting percentage. Schulte is pacing the state in digs per set and total digs (167).
Santiago Canyon has a record of 9-5 overall and 2-1 in conference.
The Hawks come into Wednesday night's match tied with IVC for second in the OEC behind Orange Coast.
SCC lost in three sets (25-18, 25-11, 25-19) last Wednesday at home to top-ranked OCC.
Cameron Grammatica had 10 kills and Zach Foytik finished with seven kills to lead the Hawks. Ryan Kain contributed 15 assists and Len Ein Dar added eight digs.
On the year, Grammatica is averaging 4.33 kills per set. He ranks first in the Orange Empire Conference and second in the state. Grammatica is also second in the conference in hitting percentage at .333 and Caleb Merold leads the conference and is second in the state in blocks per set at 1.21.
Irvine Valley plays again Friday when it travels to Orange Coast for a 6 p.m. match.
